Author: Bob Pockrass
Date: Dec. 1, 2014
Dale Earnhardt Jr. could win NASCAR's Most Popular Driver award for the 12th consecutive year this week but he didn’t lead the series in TV mentions or the most TV interview time.
Danica Patrick? She's way down the list even though many fans think the networks focus on her way too much.
According to statistics from Joyce Julius & Associates, Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick was mentioned a total of 5,740 times during race telecasts. Jeff Gordon had the most interview time at 1 hour.
It was no surprise that Harvick, who led more than 2,000 laps, was tops in mentions. He was followed by Gordon (5,094), Jimmie Johnson (4,830), Brad Keselowski (4,164), Joey Logano (3,482) and Earnhardt (3,311).
Rounding out the top 10 were Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne. Patrick was 20th.
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